the last few weeks...

i hadn't planned on taking quite the hiatus from life but when your baby decides to deliver early, you just have to roll with it!

the last few weeks have been A W E S O M E. there is much to share and i feel so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends, who have helped make Eli's arrival a time of peace and calm. there is much to share so here goes...

Thursday November 12th - my girlfriend and i had overlapping appointments at the hair salon. she was also pregnant - due a month after me. we joked that the coming saturday would be a great day to have a baby.

Friday November 13th - get a text message from my girlfriend, she's at the hospital and is scheduled to have a c-section at 10 am. i'm having little green kittens of jealousy! philip and i meet marissa's teacher at school at noon for parent/teacher conference. at 2 pm that afternoon, the whole family goes in for h1n1 flu shots.

Saturday November 14th - i wake up with different contractions. not too painful, very irregular and sporadic. dylan's final football game is at 10. i was determined to have my baby and just in case it was the day, i have marissa take this photo of me:

the game was great but i got a bit hot sitting outside. i take the kids with me to an open house baby shower on the way home. still feeling good but had a little low blood sugar episode. have my fill of baby shower food and take the kids home for lunch/quiet afternoon/dinner. when philip arrives home we go for a walk. contractions are more frequent but not too painful. i've been induced with the other two so i was waiting for the contractions to really start hurting. we get home from our walk and sit down to watch the tivo'd byu game. at the end of the first quarter the contractions are every 3 minutes. we decide to go to the hospital. we arrive at 6:30.

by 9:00 i had this in my arms:

i was well into labor (6cm) by the time we arrived at the hospital, and the contractions were about 2 mins apart. i was still really comfortable but knew i wouldn't be in a few minutes as things progressed. priority one was getting an epidural. the nurses were amazing and everyone just jumped right in and got to work. i got the epidural and was feeling great. however, quickly the contractions seemed to overpower the meds. my cute nurse kept encouraging me to push the pain meds button but it didn't seem to be helping. she decided to check to see if i'd progressed any further and was shocked to find i was fully dilated and ready to push!

dr. wilson made his appearance and asked philip, "you want to deliver this one?" phil immediately turned him down but with some encouragement from the nurses decided to "give it a try". i wasn't nervous (obviously heavily medicated...) and after they got him all scrubbed up it was party time. two pushes later...



we all joked that perhaps an mba wasn't the road to take and that med school should be in philip's future but he assured us that this was the first and last time he would deliver a baby.

i am so glad that sweet eli decided to make his arrival 10 days early. i was so done being pregnant. while i was sad that my mom missed the big event, philip's mom made it just in the nick of time on wednesday night and was a huge help with mari and dylan. she brought them to meet eli for the first time on sunday.





so far he is a dream baby. super easy going and seems to handle the chaos and noise around here pretty well. he gained all of his weight back by his 1 week checkup and already seems to be filling out. he slept for two 5-6 hour stretches last night, which was awesome! the transition has been pretty easy for me - minus a major cold the last few days - and the kids have both really loved having a baby brother. mari has been a huge help - dylan has struggled to find his place now as the middle child. i can so sympathize with him, being a middle myself.

my mom finally arrived last saturday and we spent the week just enjoying each other's company: shopping, laughing, drinking tea, playing with our iphones (which is the BEST thing a nursing mother can own), eating out, and doing our nails. she brought peace and laughter to our home, which was the best gift i could have received. and she did bring me some sweet presents too :)

it's funny that no matter how old you get, sometimes you just want to have your mom. and no matter how old you are and how long it's been since you were under her constant care, she knows just how to take care of you - better than anyone else - and she loves you like no one else can. my mom went home today and i'm sad, but so thankful for everything she did for me and can't wait to see her again!

anyway, i'm waiting for copies of photos from the grandma cameras and will post pics of this past week and eli's blessing. we were able to have all four grandparents in town for a few short hours and were fortunate enough to have eli blessed at home. it was a perfect day and i feel very blessed.

here are a few more gems from the first week. i need to get to bed. you know what they say, sleep when the baby does!